The present invention relates to vehicle beds, particularly to material carriers and storage systems for beds of compact-size, mid-size and full-size pickup trucks, trailers, and full-size trucks having side panels, and more particularly to a collapsible material carrier which can be used alone or with a hidden storage for a vehicle bed on a conventional pickup, for example.
Pickup trucks have long been a means for transporting and/or storing tools, materials, etc. for various trades, such as plumbing, electrical, construction, repair, etc. While conventional tool boxes, which generally extend across the pickup bed, and conventional material carriers, which generally extend over the bed and the cab, provide tool storage and a means for carrying long materials, such tool boxes take up a great deal of space and thus reduce the carrying capacity and the material carriers are fixed to the bed. Also, the conventional pickup beds have been removed and replaced with utility type beds of various types, such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,245,713, 3,727,971, 4,685,695, 5,615,922 and 5,267,773, and material carriers have been mounted to the utility beds. In addition, the pickup truck body and/or beds have been modified to provide storage space, such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,978,153, 4,917,430 and 5,615,922.
While these prior storage and material carrier arrangements have been satisfactory for their intended purpose, such are an attraction for theft as well as having an appearance of a utility bed. Thus, there has been a need for a more practical material carrier that can be quickly removed or collapsed to remove the appearance of a construction or repair type vehicle, and for a storage system for pickup truck beds which does not alter the bed's external appearance or significantly reduce the interior size of the bed, thereby reducing the tool theft problem while providing space for hidden storage without significant reduction of the bed's carrying capacity.
The need for a hidden storage system for a vehicle bed has been filled by the invention described and claimed in above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,000 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,598, issued Oct. 20, 1998. These hidden storage systems may be fabricated by conversion, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,769, or by assembly, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,390, of a conventional pickup truck bed into a hidden storage bed without altering the external appearance of the bed and without significant reduction in the carrying capacity thereof--a truck with a trunk. This is accomplished by providing storage adjacent the wheel well area, and along the length of the bed, and providing the side panel or fender/side panel of the bed with one or more hinged sections and latch arrangements whereby the side panel or fender/side panel can be opened to expose the storage area, or closed and latched to conceal the storage area. Thus, the pickup can be used for pleasure or work without the appearance of its storage and material carrier capability, and can be parked in areas where theft would likely occur from conventional tool boxes or utility beds. Improvements have been made to the hidden storage bed of the above-referenced patents which include different side panel or fender/side panel hinging, lock and latch systems, collapsible support beams, struts for the fender/side panels, drain/air relief valves, and shelving arrangements including slideable shelves. The above need for a more practical material carrier is provided by the present invention which involves a collapsible material carrier that can be collapsed into the vehicle bed so as not to be seen from a side view of the bed.